For the third time, Adele is Billboard's top artist of the year, five years after her sophomore album 21 spent 24 weeks atop the Billboard 200. Her newest work, 25, dropped in November 2015 and immediately crushed its competition, debuting with first-week sales of 3.4 million and spending the proceeding 10 weeks on top of the Billboard 200 (its debut single, "Hello," spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100, too). The LP has since sold nearly 10 million copies.

Still, Bieber gave her some serious competition, particularly where the Hot 100 singles charts are concerned. Bieber managed three No. 1 singles — his first three — with Purpose. More impressively, he had Billboard's No. 1 and No. 2 singles of the year: “Love Yourself ” and “Sorry.”

Drake nipped at the heels of both, as the seemingly unstoppable "One Dance" (it's Spotify's most-streamed song ever) has officially landed the title of 2016's third-biggest song. Plus, he appears in the fourth-biggest, Rihanna's "Work."

Who do you think deserved Billboard's top honor? Share your thoughts on 2016's chart performances in the comments.

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